active interference on our part is necessary in order to put down slavery; we have but to refuse to uphold it, and from that moment it is at an end. At this late hour I will not trouble the House by doing so, or I should have wished to read a letter which I hold in my hand, giving a most dramatic description of a mutiny which occurred a few months ago on an estate in Antigua, which shews in the most striking manner how entirely dependant slavery is upon the constant support of a military force. The slaves upon this estate, in a body, refused to work, or to suffer the punishment which was ordered to be inflicted upon the first who did so! Under these circumstances, what was the resource of the manager? Why, Sir, he made the best of his way to St. John's, and having obtained from the Governor the assistance of two companies of infantry, he returned to the estate, and having drawn up the soldiers in front of the negro-house, with loaded muskets, and fixed bayonets, he called out the slaves, had a severe punishment inflicted on the ringleaders in the revolt, and thus succeeded in restoring order. But if, when by the authority of the Imperial Legislature, the slaves are released from the obligation to serve the planter, the latter shall refuse to acknowledge the force of this decree, what steps is he to take to compel the negroes to continue to submit to his authority? When summoned to their accustomed work, they will treat the command with derision, and will proceed to amuse or occupy themselves according to their different tastes; will the manager with the two or three book-keepers he has to assist him, attempt with the whip to enforce the obedience of 200 or 300 negroes? and if not, what will he do? Military assistance he will have none to reckon upon, since the British troops, I presume, will be more likely to obey the authority of the King, and of the Imperial Parliament, than that of the Assembly of Jamaica.

The cessation of sugar cultivation is, then, I conclude, the worst result which is to be anticipated from our being compelled to put an end to slavery, without having the assistance of the colonial legislatures. What, on the other hand, are the dangers to be apprehended from adopting the course recommended by my Right Honourable Friend? The danger, which it is said attends complete emancipation, arises from the probability that the colonial legislatures may refuse to come into such a scheme; but are they likely to agree to that of my Right Honourable Friend?-and if not, can you compel them to acquiesce? To carry into effect this plan, it is not sufficient merely to abstain from giving your support to the existing system; you must, either by persuasion or by force, procure the active support of the colonies, to another complicated system which is to be substituted for it. If we have to appeal to force, will the negroes be tranquil spectators of a struggle upon such a subject? Sir, I fear no man can suppose so. On the other hand, for the reasons I have already stated, I believe that, even if we had the zealous and active co-operation of the colonists, sugar cultivation would be arrested, by the impossibility of obtaining effective labour from the negroes under such a system. But this, though the worst, and, I believe, not the probable result of the entire abolition of slavery, is by no means the

worst that can happen if the proposal of my Right Honourable Friend is adopted; on the contrary, the breaking up of the whole system, without an actual convulsion, is, I think, the best issue to be looked for from such a state of things, and one which I, at least, should not be sanguine enough to anticipate. Should my Right Honourable Friend succeed in bringing his plan into active operation-should he be fortunate enough to overcome all the difficulties I have already described, what will be the effect produced upon the minds of the slaves? They are to be told that they are free; and at the same time, that they must still go on, as heretofore, labouring for their masters, and receiving in return, only the commonest necessaries of life! What is the grievance of which they now complain? Not that they have to labour, but that their labour is unrewarded; and of the redress of this grievance, my Right Honourable Friend proposes that they should have only a distant prospect. It is true, that during one-fourth of the day, the negroes are to labour on their own account; but what they earn, even in this portion of their time, is not to be at their own disposal; it is to be taken from them in order to accumulate, for the payment of a debt which they will feel they do not justly owe; and till the expiration of twelve years they will derive no advantage whatever from it. Sir, twelve years is a long time in the life of any man, and it will appear endless to an ignorant slave, accustomed to think chiefly of the present hour, and rarely, if ever, to look beyond the succeeding week, or the succeeding month. What, then, I again ask, will be the effect upon his mind, when he is told that he is free, but finds that, for so long a period, his freedom is to make no difference whatever in his condition-that he is to go on labouring as before, without receiving any remuneration for his toil, beyond his accustomed and scanty supply of necessaries? Perhaps my Right Honourable Friend will say, that his condition will be improved, that he will no longer have to fear the infliction of punishment at the caprice of his master. Sir, for the reasons I have already stated, I greatly doubt whether this change will really be for his good. If punishment by the authority of the magistrate is to be depended upon for enforcing the performance of labour, I fear its severity must be much greater than what is now commonly inflicted, in order to produce its effect; but grant that in this respect my Right Honourable Friend should not be disappointed, will the check imposed upon the cart-whip satisfy the negroes? Sir, to answer that question, I will refer my Right Honourable Friend to the evidence collected with respect to the recent insurrection in Jamaica; he will find that both planters and missionaries concur in stating, that the leaders of the revolt were almost universally slaves who had nothing to complain of on the score of personal treatment; the same fact is proved by the confession of the rebels themselves. The slave Gardner, one of the chief instigators of the insurrection, in his confession says, “ If Dove (another of the leaders) and I were to be stripped, our skins would be found as smooth as any white man's, for we have never been flogged." Nor is this difficult to be accounted for; the head

men upon the estates, the drivers and principal mechanics, the petty officers, if I may use that expression, are seldom flogged, and these men being naturally selected from the most intelligent slaves, it is, of course, upon their minds, that the injustice of the claim of their masters to their gratuitous services, makes the strongest impression, whilst they are also those best fitted to lead. their fellows in an attempt to obtain their freedom by force. Now, Sir, to those slaves whose hostility is the most dangerous, the measure which my Right Honourable Friend has proposed will be no relief whatever; on the contrary, they will consider it as at once a recognition of the injustice of the present system, and an avowal of our determination to continue it; the measure itself is formed upon an admission that slavery (that is, the forced labour of one man for the benefit of another) involves a violation of justice and of natural equity: will not, then, the more intelligent of the slaves be ready enough to say, "If this is so, why are we for twelve years more to work without being paid? Let us obtain by force the full restoration of our rights instead of this mockery of justice." Sir, in the present state of feeling amongst the slaves in Jamaica, it appears to me that an attempt to execute the scheme of my Right Honourable Friend, would be almost a certain signal for revolt; and I ask the House, are British troops and British officers to be employed in slaughtering men for resistance under such provocation?

Sir, I have heard strong language used in this House, in praise of the efforts made by the Poles to recover their national liberty. I have heard the conduct of Russia condemned, in no measured terms, for having, by military force, put down and punished the insurgents. But if the cause of the Poles was just, what shall we say of that of the negroes in the case I have supposed? The Poles fought for political liberty, which, I trust, I do not undervalue, but which I must still consider, when compared to personal freedom, as a mere speculative advantage; the struggle of the negroes would be, to be allowed in peace to enjoy the fruits of their own industry,—to be relieved at once from a claim acknowledged by those who impose it, to be too unjust to be permanently maintained. Sir, I ask, what Honourable Gentleman is there in this House, who has joined in the general condemnation of the conduct of Russia, who could vote supplies for carrying on such a contest with the negroes? Whatever course we pursue, it is not impossible that an insurrection may take place. Justice has been so long delayed, that it may be that a servile war is inevitable; but, Sir, if we grant to the negroes all that they have a right to ask, and they still break out into rebellion, we shall have, in the melancholy necessity of shedding their blood, the consolation of knowing that this necessity, has not been occasioned by a denial of justice. But if the struggle arises from an attempt to force them to submit to the exaction of unrequited labour, shall we not again be in the situation, of which the American war is the only other example in our history, in which no friend to justice and humanity can wish well to the arms of his country?

Sir, I trust the House will not be induced to adopt a course which may lead to so dreadful a result, and that we shall at once proceed to restore to the negroes the full enjoyment of their rights as men. Such a course, I am convinced, for the reasons I have stated, is, in every point of view, the most expedient, and attended with the smallest danger. I do not pretend that it is safe, but, as being less dangerous than any other, I most earnestly recommend it; and even, Sir, were the balance of danger less decidedly in its favour, believing that it is alone consistent with the eternal rules of right and wrong, and with the first principles of justice, I should be prepared to adopt it, committing the issue, not without anxiety, but with humble confidence, to the disposal of an all-wise and overruling Providence.

SIR ROBERT PEEL.-I rise, not for the purpose of entering into the discussion of the question, but of suggesting that, at this stage of the debate, and at this hour of the night, it is most important that some arrangement should be entered into, and be clearly understood by the whole House, with respect to the practical course that is to be pursued upon the resolutions proposed by the Right Honourable Gentleman. I, for one, am disposed to deprecate very strongly, any hasty or precipitate judgment upon the question. The present resolutions differ from former ones, in this respect,-that they do not merely involve any vague or general principle in favour either of immediate or contingent abolition; but suggest the details of a plan by which the abolition is to be effected. The house, therefore, cannot vote upon the principle, without a reference to those details; and I think that, in a matter of such importance, it would be most satisfactory to the judgment of every individual, as well as most conducive to the general character of this House, as a Legislative Assembly, to adopt no resolution, without taking full time to consider of the objections to its adoption, or what modification it may be expedient to suggest. I am desirous that the speech of the Right Honourable Gentleman, and the Noble Lord who succeeded him, should be considered with that view.

From these varied considerations, coupled with the general indisposition of the House to enter upon the question at present,-not because Gentlemen are insensible of the unspeakable importance of the subject, or because they are unwilling to hear the sentiments of the Noble Lord, but because they wish for time to consider the question. I hope it will meet the general sense of the House, that the discussion be postponed to a day so distant that there may be a full opportunity of considering the whole bearings of the plan of the Right Honourable Gentleman upon the evidence taken before the Committee last Session. I hope his Majesty's Government will not press for a vote upon any of the resolutions at present. I ask for no indefinite delay, for I feel the importance of coming to a decision, and I know that to leave the question unsettled would be pregnant with danger; but I think it would be more consistent with the character of the House, and with general as well as individual interests, that the question should be maturely considered before the House comes to a decision upon it.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER.-My Right Honourable

Friend has already stated, that if it be the wish of any Honourable Gentleman that longer time should be taken for the consideration of the question, and that the House should not come to a decision in one evening, he considered that such would be a most reasonable proposition. In this opinion I entirely concur. No man can look at this question without feeling not only its immense importance, but also its great difficulty, and therefore a full consideration, before the final discussion, is most desirable; not only is it desirable that Members of this House should have time to consider this question with calmness, but also that the public out-of-doors, who have taken such an immense interest in it, should have an opportunity of considering it calmly before this House comes to a final decision upon it. I am therefore prepared to accede to the proposition of my Right Honourable Friend; and I would beg to suggest that the best mode of proceeding would be that the Chairman should report the resolutions pro forma, without pledging the Committee to them in any degree. I perceive, however, that the Right Honourable Baronet and Gentlemen opposite dissent from this proposition; and, as I do not wish to gain any advantage, I beg to suggest that the Chairman report progress, and ask leave to sit again, and that the resolutions be in the mean time printed, although, perhaps, rather irregularly. With respect to the day, I agree with the Right Honourable Baronet that if the discussion be postponed at all, it ought to be to rather a distant day. I shall therefore propose that it shall not be resumed until after the Whitsuntide recess, and would name Thursday, the 30th day of this month, as the day on which the Chairman should ask leave to sit again.

Mr. BUXTON.-I feel a very strong objection to so long a delay. I hardly think it is treating the opponents of the plan quite fairly that the speech of the Right Honourable Gentleman, able and elaborate as it was, should remain so long before the world unanswered. It is true that my Noble Friend (Lord Howick) has ably answered some parts of it, but there are other parts he has not answered. But whether the debate be postponed for a longer or a shorter time, there is one part of the plan left in so obscure a state, that I think we ought to have some explanation with respect to it before we separate. It is a part of great importance, as I am sure the House and the public will agree. The Right Honourable Gentleman said, that the money was to be paid either by the country or by the negro. Now there cannot be two propositions more distinct than these, and, for my own part, I shall oppose the payment of a single farthing by the negro. Nothing could be more unfair than to charge him with any payment, unless it could be shewn to be for his benefit. With respect to a proposition of the other nature, although I do not mean to say that I am prepared to agree to it, I should look at it under a different aspect. What I want to know now, however, is the nature of the proposition made by his Majesty's Government?

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER.-My Right Honourable Friend stated that the proposition he submitted to the House was, certainly, that the negro should pay a part of the price of his emancipation; but, at the same time, the resolutions leave that question